CAMPAIGN NOTEBOOK

By Celia Cohen
Grapevine Political Writer

Money has not exactly been Joe Biden's strong point
in his presidential campaign, but it was good enough to
get him on the Democratic primary ballot here.

Candidates looking to run in Delaware's presidential
primary on Feb. 5 had to meet a deadline Monday to
qualify -- either by submitting the signatures of 500
voters or by being declared eligible for presidential
matching funds by the Federal Election Commission.

It looks as though 13 candidates did, six Democrats
and seven Republicans.

Biden passed muster for the federal matching dollars
last week, although he has not decided whether to accept
them because of the spending limits that go with them.
Altogether his most recent financial report in October
showed he has raised $8 million -- and he could use
more.

It is the story of Biden's presidential life --
single digits, just like his poll numbers, even if it
was single digits for millions of dollars. The
contributions for the front runners spiraled into the
high double digits, with $89 million for Hillary Clinton
and $79 million for Barack Obama.

In addition to Biden, the Democratic primary ballot
is in line to list Clinton, Obama, John Edwards and
Chris Dodd, according to state election officials.
Dennis Kucinich is expected to be added, once officials
confirm he is in line for matching funds.

It leaves only Bill Richardson among the major
Democratic candidates as a no-show.

On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain,
Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo are on the ballot. Election
officials are in the process of verifying the signatures
for Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson to get
them on, too.

Delaware is part of a cluster of more than 20 states
with presidential contests on the first Tuesday in
February, a day expected to wrap up the nominations
after the field has been winnowed by the critical
earlier voting in Iowa, New Hampshire and South
Carolina.

It is up to those earlier states to determine whether
Biden and his favorite-son status still are alive by the
time of the primary here, although the state's voters
already have signaled they have their doubts. In a poll
by Fairleigh Dickinson University in October, their top
Democratic choice for president was Clinton at 41
percent, followed by Biden at 19 percent.

Biden does have one substantial lead in his home
state. As of October, he had collected the highest
amount of contributions here. He had $798,000, followed
by Giuliani with $102,000, Clinton with $72,000, Romney
with $63,000, McCain with $46,000 and Obama with
$34,000.

In general, though, Biden remains overshadowed, as
shown yet again by events last week. While Obama was
basking in Oprah Winfrey's endorsement tour, Biden
received a woman's vote of confidence that was largely
overlooked.

It came from Gennifer Flowers, who apparently finds
Biden to be the second sexiest man alive, after old
flame Bill Clinton. She told The Associated Press she
was leaning toward voting for either Hillary Clinton or
Biden.

For better or worse, Flowers called Biden "smart,
sexy and experienced."

# # #

When the year began, the congressional Democrats
tried to convince themselves the 2008 election would be
the one that let them claim Delaware's lone seat in the
U.S. House of Representatives after eight terms of
Republican Mike Castle.

At first they hoped Castle, who is 68, would retire.
Then they thought about trying to scare him off with a
proven Democratic vote-getter -- like Lt. Gov. John
Carney, Treasurer Jack Markell, Insurance Commissioner
Matt Denn, Attorney General Beau Biden or New Castle
County Executive Chris Coons --particulary because
Castle polled only 57 percent in 2006, a solid victory
but nothing near his customary 70 percent.

All of those Democrats, however, found something
better to do. Carney and Markell both want to be
governor, Denn is running for lieutenant governor, Biden
is committed to the four-year term he won last year, and
Coons is focused on being re-elected.

As the year ends, it appears the Democrats may wind
up with the same unsatisfying situation they had in 2006
-- a lackluster primary between Dennis Spivack, who won
the last one, and Karen Hartley-Nagle for the right to
challenge Castle.

Spivack expects to decide on his candidacy no later
than January. Hartley-Nagle sent out a press release
last week to say she was in.

There is one difference, however. In 2006
Hartley-Nagle was the prime example for "fusion" -- the
practice of filing with both a major party and a minor
party to guarantee a candidate a spot on the November
ballot even after losing a primary. This time she has
committed to running strictly as a Democrat.

Fusion turned out to be just a little too cute for
the voters.

"I decided that I wasn't going to run fusion, because
I spent all my time explaining what fusion meant,"
Hartley-Nagle said. "It wasn't productive."